DOJ Appeal Decision Overturning ACA Preventive Care Rules

The Department of Justice filed a motion on Friday to appeal a lower court decision that would allow insurers to stop covering certain preventive services for free despite a mandate from the Affordable Care Act.

The resource follows a decision issued by Judge Reed O’Connor on Thursday which removed the requirements for health insurers to provide free coverage for certain preventive exams and tests, including sexually transmitted diseases, cancer and mental illness. The Affordable Care Act required this coverage starting in 2011.

In her decision, O’Connor sided with a group of Christian business owners who argued that their religious beliefs prevented them from participating in a health insurance plan that provided coverage that could make them “complicit in facilitating homosexual behavior, drug use and sexual activity outside the United States. of marriage between a man and a woman”.

It is currently unclear which preventive services would be removed from the ACA coverage mandate based on O’Connor’s decision. Coverage of PrEP, a medication used to prevent HIV transmission, was the only preventive service explicitly challenged in the case. But O’Connor’s decision could extend to screening for colorectal cancer, breast cancer, HPV vaccination and more, depending on which medical advisory board recommended coverage and in which year.

O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee, has made a name for himself as a fierce opponent of the Affordable Care Act. He has repeatedly struck down provisions of the law, including invalidating it outright in 2018. That decision was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2021.

The appeal will be heard by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is packed with appointees of conservative Donald Trump.